Battle for middle earth 2 world builder download

What's more, you can also harness the power of the One Ring or the Evenstar depending on your allegiances , with a multitude of defensive and offensive spells available to you, including meteor showers that turn enemy units into paste and humorous yet deadly appearances from Tom Bombadil.

The two story-driven campaigns seem hollow and overly scripted, and at around five hours each, are far too short. Battles seldom feel like desperate struggles or brutal skirmishes and rarely require much strategy.

You also can't help but feel that the game's been somewhat dumbed down, as though attempting to appeal to a mass-market audience with its sheer simplicity. What's more, the dual licences feel utterly under-used, the voice-acting is a shadow of the original's and the build-anywhere feature just makes the game feel like a myriad of other mildly entertaining yet eminently forgettable RTS games that have come and gone over the last few years.

However, in no way is it anywhere near the game we hoped for. What a waste. With Rome: Total War and Star Wars: Empire At War proving just how effective a marriage between turn-based campaign and real-time battles can be, EA LA obviously thought it'd better try its hand at doing something similar.

So, it set about dividing Middle-earth into some 40 provinces, and you must conquer them all or just a specific few if you're pushed for time and become the supreme ruler of Middle-earth.

Sounds great in principle, but once you start playing, you quickly realise just how unwieldy and ugly the campaign map actually is.

In fact, it's so clumsy that it feels more like an afterthought than a well-planned feature. Quite frankly, EA LA shouldn't have bothered.

Battle tor Middle-earth II lets you create throngs of elven archers, dwarven axmen, rock-throwing cave trolls, human cavalry, Uruk warriors, and more to dash on ancient battlefields.

It's a tad more epic than the whole scooping-water-out-of-the-ocean-with-a-spoon thing when you're sticking your blade in one goblin at a time But, as in any real-time strategy game, before you get your troops, you first have to collect resources and construct production buildings. It's not a complicated process, although BFME2seems to assume its players have seen some RTS action in the past Within the first few missions, you're already managing multiple menus, heroes, units, buildings, and powers, and you can't slow down the game to think or breathe.

The tutorials, as helpful as they are, don't really prepare newbies property for army-commander duties in Middle-earth. Veterans, however won't have any problems with the campaign.

When everything starts kicking in--the controller shortcuts, unit abilities and weaknesses, what buildings produce what, etc. The battles don't take place on generic tiled landscapes. Rather, each campaign mission plays out in wonderfully designed stages created specifically to capture your imagination: Cities shine with waterfalls and statues, docks bum from naval bombardment, and the fortress of Dol Guldur intimidates with its skyscraping towers and obsidian walls.

The different factions Isengard, elves, goblins, etc. And the corpses should be piling up plenty on Xbox Live: Multiplayer offers lots of maps, a couple of first-person shooter-influenced modes see sidebar , and generally smooth play fit only crashed on us once during our playtesting , though the four-player cap and inability to team up against CPU opponents kinda stinks of dwarf breath.

Though Patrick may feel otherwise, I gotta say I think EA did a commendable job adapting the complicated controls of this keyboard-first game to the tight quarters of the controller. In mere minutes I was managing resources and calling out orders with ease.

So it wasn't the controls that made this game hard to play--it was the resolution. Icons, percentage numbers, and other onscreen displays are tiny, which leads to big frustration when you're trying to set up your base. This also has an effect on your ability to distinguish who's who among your units--expect a lot of zooming in to make sure you've selected the archers, not the swordsmen, and zooming out to issue the attack or new position command.

But I do love that, instead of pushing you through the narrative of the books and movies again , the campaign parallels those events by focusing on the obscure War to the North, explaining why the elves and dwarves were missing in action--a treat for any Tolkien nerd. With BFME2, EA makes a noble effort to buck this trend with the controller, but the game has way too much to do and not enough buttons to work with sony, Jay.

BFME2's Xbox-level graphics also hurt, and the entertaining, Risk-esque War of the Ring mode from the PC version is gone, so single-player just isn't as fulfilling though I can't say I miss that mode's dull multiplayer variant.

But while the solo campaigns offer familiar RTS missions, the game presents them with a very solid eye for the Tolkien feel--what can I say, it's fun to crush Rivendell. Also, multiplayer features a nice slew of achievement-friendly Live modes, which play into the best reason to get this version: to have an achievement list that reads like Gandalfs resume. The Lord of the Rings is one of those franchises that you can't help but think of in videogame terms.

Fun to a degree? Sure, but it left many fans disappointed in the midst of the flourishing movie franchise. Battle for Middle-earth II , unlike its predecessor, does most everything right. It takes a beloved franchise rife with potentially great videogames moments and transforms it into a fleshed out, fully formed RTS experience.

Half of what makes for a solid RTS, for example, is a rich world to draw upon, and that's something Battle for Middle-earth II certainly doesn't want for.

The missions are well crafted both objective-wise and setting-wise, utilizing the vast lore of The Lord of the Rings books to make more some really memorable experiences. The logistics of the game are all pretty sharp, too. Battles feel truly epic, with hundreds of characters on screen at once, and better yet, the chaos feels controlled though always intense. The emphasis is squarely on the action, with a plethora of units and heroes similar to the Warcraft series at your command.

But, with such an emphasis on action, the strategic element of the game runs in the shallow end. For RTS purists, that can be a bit of a downer, but for the more mainstream audience that doesn't usually delve into heavy strategic games, this is a pretty big boon.

Strategy enthusiasts aren't left completely in the dark, however. It's a bit rough around the edges, but if you prefer a little bit more depth mingled with your action, it's definitely a fun diversion from the main game. And, if nothing else, Battle for Middle-earth II sure does look nice. The scope of the game is pretty huge, and with battles fielding a huge number of units, it'll induce a few moments of nerdish awe.

But, like most RTS titles, it looks really nice far away, but when you start zooming in, all the flaws shine through. This would be a negligible if it weren't for the fact that a majority of the cinematic use in-game graphics, highlighting many of the game's imperfections. It helps all the more if you can recognize the subtle genius in zerging an enemy base with a battalion of LothlA?

Browse games Game Portals. Install Game. Click the "Install Game" button to initiate the file download and get compact download launcher. Locate the executable file in your local folder and begin the launcher to install your desired game. Game review Downloads Screenshots The Books or The Movies?

Overall rating: 9. XBox Guide to MAP. STR and its uses, detailing the method to display text in maps, make objectives for your missions etc. Guide to Camera Animations — A comprehensive guide to using the Camera Animations feature, exploring its various nuances and learning how to implement them in creating movies or cutscenes.

Basic Map Design — A basic tutorial for beginners. Learn how to make your own Skirmish Maps in just 8 steps! Though the Worldbuilder has been modified for BFME2, there are still many similarities and the manual can be very useful for reference. Advanced Features Tutorial — An extremely useful tutorial to the new features of BFME2 Worldbuilder that enable some advanced designing, including such effects as falling snow, fog, wave and ocean coastlines, terrain flammability, and much more.

Sample Map. INI — A map. Basic Scripting and Singleplayer Mission Guide — Advanced tutorial on creating your own Singleplayer mission, with great emphasis on Scripting. Also introduces map. Rivendell Mission Tutorial — A technical step by step account on how first good mission in The Battle for Middle-earth 2, Rivendell, was created. It gives you some insight in to their basic map design practices, the concept and thought process behind scenario making, furnished with invaluable tips and tricks, and examination of the scripts involved.

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